Challenges remain for SA, Price tells LSE

Lessons: Education offers hope for many in South Africa, but there's still much work to be done, Dr Max Price told a gathering in London.

Training the next generations of academics is one of the challenges facing Africa, UCT vice-chancellor, Dr Max Price, told an audience at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) recently while on an official visit to the UK.

At the LSE, Price spoke of the challenges still facing South Africa, in particular around income equality. The richest 10% of the population earn 60% of the country's income, the poorest 55% just 8%, he explained.

Education offers the best hope for many, but despite generous state spending, the sector, too, is not without its troubles. A brain drain during the 1980s up to around 2000 cost the country and continent many of its trained scholars, for example.

"The biggest challenge, everyone recognises, is to develop and raise the quality of academics," said Price.